Kenya: Sacked Magistrate Sues Over HIV Status, Wants to Be Reinstated

A former magistrate who was relieved of her duties after disclosing her HIV status has moved to the court seeking reinstatement with full benefits&period;

The Employment and Labour Relations Court &lpar;ELRC&rpar; has certified the case as urgent and admitted it for hearing&period;

Judge Byram Ongaya directed lawyer Jason Okemwa representing the former magistrate&comma; to serve the Judicial Service Commission and Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi with the pleadings by February 5&period;

"The pre-trial hearing of this case will be February 7&comma; 2019 before any judge in the ELRC division&comma;" Justice Ongaya ruled last week&period;

The claimant NML said that she was infected with HIV by her husband who was introduced to her by her pastor&period; Upon discovery that she was infected&comma; the administrator dumped her with their two HIV&sol;AIDS ailing children&period; They have since died&period;

She is now struggling to survive with no earnings at all&period; The magistrate was sent packing when she was serving an interdiction on half salary in 2016&period;

"&lpar;The interdiction&rpar; was inconveniencing and her termination was insensitive&comma; unfair and was a death penalty as her support was completely cut off&comma;" Mr Okemwa says in court papers&period;

The former magistrate asserts that she has nothing to fall back on since her health cover was withdrawn by the Judiciary and all her cards taken away&period;

Mr Okemwa is asking the court to enforce his client's constitutional rights by directing the JSC to reinstate her with full benefits&period;